you tomorrow. this morning on "early today," politics and policy. mitt romney sharpens his foreign policy attacks as the president prepares to step onto the world stage. celestial stunner. new images capture an awesome display of the northern lights. and talk about find of a lifetime. an artwork purchased at a thrift store fetches tens of thousands at auction. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with foreign affairs. president obama will take a brief diplomatic detour from his campaign front lines to address the simmering crises in iran, syria, and the broader muslim

world before the united nations general assembly. nbc's tracie potts joins us with those details. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. there's a lot at stake here. the president is explaining where we stand on some of the big issues internationally, but also this is a big issue and a big speech for the president himself politically. >> first thing is first here. we do have an election ahead. i've got a lot of things i want to do in a second term. >> reporter: president obama on "the view" before speaking to the united nations general assembly today. aides say he will focus on the recent unrest in the middle east and the death of ambassador chris stevens and three other americans in libya. mitt romney is criticizing him for calling these events bumps in the road. >> these are not bumps in the road. these are human lives. these are developments we do not want to see. >> considering those events, either one of them or all of them collectively as bumps in

the road shows a person who has a very different perspective about world affairs than the perspective i have. >> barack obama. >> reporter: today's u.n. speech will be the president's first international address since violence erupted across the muslim world. in bilateral meetings monday egypt president told secretary clinton security is their duty. also today president obama is expected to say the u.s. must keep nuclear weapons away from iran. iran's president already making waves in new york despite warnings from the u.n. he declared israel will be eliminated. >> the u.s. responded to that very quickly calling the comments disgusting, offensive, and outrageous. lynn. >> tracie potts there for us in washington. tracie, thank you. missouri senate candidate todd akin says is he in the race

to stay. the race despite his con throw verse y'all comments on rape last month. today is the deadline to get a court order to drop out of the race. after last month's interview, he lost most republican campaign money, but now a conservative fundraising pac is seriously considering whether to come to akin's aid because he may have a legitimate chance to beat claire mccaskill. newly released numbers shows the high school class of 2012 has s.a.t. reading scores that hit a four decade low. the college entrance exam scores on reading, sentence structure, and vocabulary, and it's been gradually declining for years. a majority of test takers, 57%, dent score high enough to indicate likely success in college. many experts attribute the decline to a record mof students taking the test, including about one quarter from low income backgrounds. just a reminder for you, be sure to tune into coverage of

education nation. it's a summit on american schools, and it's going to be going on all this week, all across the platforms of nbc news, and can you get involved in the discussion by visiting education nation.com. well, now here's a look at some other stories making news early today in america. in new york, they are fast footed thieves, at least they are now. surveillance video shows what police say are five teenagers robbing a sneaker store. at least one of the kids threatened the clerk at gun point. in massachusetts it was another truck versus truck versus apartment building. witnesses say the driver of a green pickup was speeding when he slammed into another pickup which was parked with no one inside ramming into the apartments. the driver of the first truck was hospitalized. in san francisco, one amazing sight played host to another. hump back whales made a rare visit near the golden gate bridge. whale watchers usually have to travel dozens of miles out to sea to catch the migration.

this time they were a mere quarter mile outside san francisco bay. finally, in north carolina never underestimate the value of a trip to goodwill. it can pay off apparently. this painting was bought by an unemployed artist for $9.99. well, she was planning to use it as a canvas for her own paintings of cats, but a friend urged her to do a little research. turns out the painting was called vertical diamond. it's a keeper. at auction it could retrieve $35,000. now for a look at your national and regional weather, here's nbc meteorologist bill karins, your weather channel forecast. >> i'm also realizes that someone gave that up and didn't realize -- >> very, very good point. >> now he is looking at that picture because it's hard to miss. >> $35,000 gave to goodwill. good tax write-off, i guess. here's what we're dealing with

out there this morning. we have a storm system over the top of utah bringing rain, and we still have a hot weather pattern throughout the southern half of the country through texas and arizona. 101 in phoenix. we would like to drop it down to the enjoyable weather season that's right around the corner. also, cooler temperatures. notice, it was only 71 yesterday in salt lake city, so we're going to continue to watch that storm system spinning. you can see it clearly here in the upper levels. we don't have a lot else out there. weak cold front trying to slice through washington state. not a lot of moisture with that, but it will bring cooler temperatures to areas around seattle as we go throughout today and tomorrow. there's cool air behind that. there's a big storm in the gulf of alaska that will watch over the next couple of days, but as far as the west coast goes, no issues whatsoever. a marine influence. we'll keep it cooler in san diego and immediate coastal areas like san francisco over the next couple of days. here's the radar showing salt lake city with light rain over the top of you and also by cedar city here trying to head up into the mountains of colorado. a little bit of light rain also. the forecast for today, there's

cooler weather in seattle. still very warm from vegas to phoenix, but not quite as hot as yesterday, and 76, partly cloudy in l.a. colorado in the days ahead. you'll dry out shortly. looks like maybe a four or five day pattern change for the west, but until then more of the same. >> all right, bill. thanks so much. coming up, caterpillar craw crawls, google finds a new high, and america's surprising favorite salty snack. your early morning business headlines are straight ahead. plus, a south korean youtube sensation dances his way into the record books. coming up, a big loss for the jets, and you make the call. interception or touchdown? you're watching "early today."

good morning and welcome back to "early today." i'm lynn berry, and here are some of your top headlines this morning. the associated press reports an analysis of new satellite images shows north korea has stopped construction of a new launch pad for tests of intercontinental range rockets. the work may have been delayed by heavy summer rains, but experts say the north has not mastered the technology to shrink a nuclear weapon to fit on a long range missile. in southern california firefighters found a body in a home destroyed by the wildfire. officials say the elderly man ignored evacuation orders. two staff sergeants are going to be court martialed for urinating on the bodies of taliban fighters last year. three other marines received administrative punishment last month. hospitals around the country are being given a warning not to try to cheat the government

through the use of computerized records technology. the justice department and health and human services are focusing on what's called upcoding or raising the severity of a patient's condition to get more money. and it is peak viewing time for a beautiful sight, the northern lights. these spectacular photographs were taken over the past couple of days in yellow knife, canada. doesn't get much better than that. now here's an early look at how wall street will kick off the day. the dow closed at 13,558 after falling 20 points yesterday. the s&p was down three. the nasdaq lost 19. taking a look at overseas trading this morning, in tokyo the nikkei gained 22 points while in hong kong the hang seng was up 3. gloomy data out of europe and another corporate caution flag. stalled markets monday. minutes before the closing bell caterpillar cut its earnings

forecasts for 2015 citing weakness in the world economy sending shares lower in trade. europe's biggest economy is still struggling dampened the investment mood. it fell for a fifth straight month in september. a critical barons article coupled with unconfirmed reports of a privacy breach dragged facebook down 9%. apple dipped despite selling 5 million iphone 5s last weekend which was more than the iphone 4s but apparently not as many as some expected. on the up side, google notched a new high on an analyst upgrade. ahead of fresh housing data this week home builder lenar posted surprisingly high earnings. discover is refunding $2.5 million to 3.5 million customers after a federal investigation showed it tricked people to sign up for services like payment protection plans.

toys"r"us is hiring 45,000 seasonal people this year. that's up from the 40,000 people it hired. a recall of valencia peanut butter has spread to more than a dozen brand of nut butters at sunland's new mexico factory. so far only trader joe's peanut butter has been linked to salmonella. an industry trade group predicts a world shortage of pork and bacon next year. it's now unavoidable due to this year's drought. finally, speaking of salty food a new poll shows ritz crackers are america's favorite salty snack. lays potato chips are second and doritos are third. obviously we're asking college students. coming up, the tigers pounce, the yanks extend their lead, and a top nfl defensive back is out for the season. plus, one very controversial call could be the last straw for football's replacement refs. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead.

that may have been the worst call ever. your forecast still hot in the southern half of the country. that's not going to change. that's coming up. you're watching "early today."

good morning. if you're just waking up, this is "early today." and in sports, a truly bizarre twist in the final play of monday night's match-up

between seattle and green bay fell in the seahawks favor. here's nbc's fred roggin with an early look at all your sports headlines. good morning. right off the top, you make the call. wrapping up a wild weekend in the nfl. here's the final play of last night's green bay/seattle game. seahawks down 12-7. seattle last chance. if they score a touchdown, they win the game. wilson scrambled and threw up a jump ball in the end zone. it appeared the packers jennings came down with it. the seahawks golden tate was there and tried to wrestle the ball away. the officials all over it. one signaled touchdown, the other signaled stop the clock. you make the call, interception or touchdown. if you called it an interception, you are wrong. they reviewed it and called it a touchdown. a controversial ending that will be talked about all week, if not all year. seattle wins a wild one 14-12. in other news darrelle revis done for the year. widely regardeded as the best

quarterback in the league. he tore his acl on sunday. the yankees continue to win. curtis granderson belted his 40th homer of the year. yanks beat the twins 6-3. they won 9-10. the pesky orioles aren't going away. flattery got the home run to center. look closely. luis ayala made the catch of the game in the bullpen and snagged it with his hand. orioles slid a double-header with the blue jays. they're a game and a half back of the yanks. tigers are playing catchup. prince fielder left the yard. his 28th. tigers won it 6-2. despite the win they couldn't make up any ground on the first place sox. adam dunn strikes out and he hits home runs. last night he did both. two home runs and two strikeouts. white sox held on to beat the indians 5-4. they lead the central by a game. finally, how about a walk-off. the sacks fall for adrian beltre. a walkoff rbi single.

the rangers win it 5-4. that's an early look at your sports today. i'm fred roggin. singer chris brown dodges a legal bullet. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. plus we'll tell you about a temporary truce in the age old battle between cats and dogs. you're watching "early today."

welcome back on this tuesday morning.

weather-wise not a lot of interest as far as neglect bad going on. a simple day. temperatures have dropped m coastal areas. we are going to watch cooler temperatures and clouds this morning on the marine layer. 56 in san francisco. the rainy weather halves in the intermountain west will be shifting into colorado and wyoming as we go throughout the day today, and then as we look towards tomorrow, not a lot of changes. still warm around medford. still slightly cool there in seattle, and we should get you some sunshine to warm up in boise as that storm pulls away. if you are watching us on ksbw action news 8 in salinas, california, in nearby santa cruz, learn about america's fascination with collecting quirky objects at santa cruz collects at the santa cruz museum of art and history. that's your pacific event of the day. do you collect anything? beanie babies? >> oh, beanie babies, right. that's my obsession. what am i, 7? >> well, now here's an early look at this morning's headlines many entertainment. singer chris brown was in an l.a. courtroom yesterday for a

standard probation hearing. it wound up being anything but. he got lectured by the judge after he tested positive for marijuana use, though she said the test was not a condition of his probation. a november hearing has been set to decide whether he violated his probation stemming from the 2009 beating of then girlfriend rihanna on other matters. the judge said the community service logs from brown's home state, virginia, were somewhat cryptic. all right. well, prosecutors in los angeles say two people have pleaded no contest to charges of trying to extort $5 million from stevie wonder for a selacious video. both were sentenced to time served. according to guinness world records this music video -- you know it -- it's gangnam style. it easily passed the lmfao "party rock anthem." it's also the number one song in 31 countries on the itunes

charts. they obviously haven't seen bill karin's version of gangnam style. google that. a kitten has found an unlikely new foster mom. a dog. the dog is now nursing the cat, even producing its own milk for the little guy. the stray fee line was found in a family barn. apparently just a few days old when he was brought inside and was cold and meowing which drew the attention of the dog named mittens. can you see why. she took it upon herself to care for the kitten who is named bootsy. they're destined to be together forever. this is your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

one park in indonesia is home to some larger than life lizards. visitors can see the more than 1300 komodo dragons that rome roam the grounds. at nearly 220 pounds komodo dragons are the world's largest lizards and are known for their lethal ven number and strength. the park was established to protect the species from endangerment. when it comes to portion control rowe romania is pushing the dieting limits. it took 1,000 people to toss up the world's biggest salad, according to guinness. the winning salad weighed 40,000 pounds and took seven hours to make. while breaking the record was great, event organizers say they also wanted to promote a healthy diet for romainians, which is a country full of meat lovers. finally, hollywood propped

-- prop departments have a little competition. in china car mechanics took about a month and a half to turn a heap of junk parts into a huge transformer model inspired by, of course, the movie. the robot alien stands almost 12 feet tall and weighs almost 4,000 pounds. the main body is made from the frame of a discarded truck. was that a little vw logo for the nose? creative. >> you're very -- observation powers are impressive. >> it's amazing what a week off can do for me, you, all of us here. well, it's time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow today here on nbc. the group, mission readiness will release the findings of its new report still too fat to fight. the nonpartisan group of senior military leaders found people between 17 and 24 cannot serve in the military primarily because they are physically unfit. the woman who wants to become first lady, ann romney, will make her first appearance on the "tonight show" with jay leno and you can watch that at

11:35, 10:35 central. it's here on your local nbc station. happy birthday to veteran broadcaster barbara walters. she turns 83 today. all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments in those stories and more as they break on msnbc. and tonight be sure to watch brian williams with "nbc nightly news." and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. >> here's what's coming up on "the today show." savannah goes one on one with president obama. she hears his perspective about the future of education in our country. from late night host to executive producer jimmy fallen is live in studio to discuss his new nbc comedy "guys with kids." keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching early today. just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com